WordPress.com launches $299 business tier with unlimited storage, live customer support

WordPress.com today announced a new premium blog hosting tier for business customers. Dubbed WordPress.com Business, the offering will include unlimited storage, live customer support, and unlimited access to premium themes. Priced at $299 annually, the new tier is being described as a means for building “a professional website without a professional price tag.” A personal domain is also included in the package. It’s meant to bridge the gap between the existing Premium and Enterprise options.

Automattic says that WordPress Business reveals itself to be a good value after some simple math: premium blog themes start at $50, and you’d need to pay $290 / year for the company’s highest storage bucket. Unfortunately it’s not the 24-hour-a-day live support you’ll find from other web hosts. In fact, as of now you’ll be limited to text chat, with voice support also planned for the future. “We’ll be collecting your feedback on how we can improve and expand live support as the service evolves.” WordPress Premium customers will apparently be given an upgrade path to the Business tier, but Automattic isn’t yet sharing details on how that will work.